Pray Daily for the Haleys

Former missionaries to Ecuador now doing Hispanic ministry in Missouri...Enjoy the updates and pictures...feel free to leave comments or email us. Dios les bendiga/God bless y'all!

Monday, September 29, 2008

Carchi/Otavalo pics

Well, here's some more pictures from our Carchi trip. You can see it was pretty cold there as it was quite high in the mountains. We had a wood burning stove in our cabin but it took a while to get going. This picture is from a horse ride I took as I was coming down a mountain. There's me and my trusty old horse. Evan and Christine in the main lodge. Here's Evan's first hiking trip. Too bad he slept through the whole thing. If he gets to moving (walking or in the car), he goes out like a lamp most of the time. These last three pics are from that same trip but in Otavalo. Otavalo is in an interesting town we had visited before but had never stayed there. We stayed there one night on this trip and had a good time there. The last picture is from the tourist market, which we had been to before. The next two are from the regular market and we had never been there before. It was quite interesting. I know we are going to miss Ecuadorian markets. Well, I guess this is all for now. I hope to put some more recent pictures and an update on later this evening...so keep posted.Psalm 55:22a-'Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you.'

Monday, September 22, 2008

a new video

Recent pics

Well, here's some recent pictures. Mainly of a couple of family get-togethers and my first baseball game in three years. This is from last Friday evening when Evan met his cousin Audrey. Audrey was born a month after Evan. In these first two pics, Laura or Paul (Christine's brother) were holding Evan and I or Christine were holding Audrey. Here's us in our Royals gear before the game. I went with a group from my in-law's church. Just because I'm in this Royals gear doesn't mean that I'm ditching the Rangers. The Rangers are still my favorite overall but I like the Royals ok, especially since we're living in Royals territory. Here's a couple of pics from the game. They played and then lost to the White Sox, 9-4. There were about 4 home runs, too bad that three of them were hit by the White Sox. The best thing about the evening is that they had $1 hot dogs, peanuts and cokes. I had three hot dogs, 1 bag of peanuts and a couple of sodas! They also had a fireworks show after the game and that was really nice. You can see the fountains in the foreground as well.This last Saturday, the whole family got together for a cookout. A good time was had by all... 4 generations... Some happy grandparents with their grandkids.With the following pictures I am stepping back in time a bit and putting on some pictures from the last few weeks of our time in Ecuador. I hadn't been able to put these pictures on before but they are here for you now. These following three are from the last vacation we took there. We went to Carchi province to a cabin up in the mountains. We had quite an interesting time there. These flowers are called 'zapatitos' or little shoes. Here's a natural mountain lake surrounded by a forest. Here's me during a hike in the woods. We saw this waterfall during our hike. Here's a view of the forest we walked through. Well, I guess this is all for now. I'll have some more pics of this trip and the rest of our time in Ecuador on later.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

home again

Well, we've made it home. The other day was kind of a long day but we had a good trip and no major problems. Thanks for praying for us. We actually had a couple of breaks with luggage as they had given us a discount on that. We also got a seat for Evan as well. Well, here's some recent pictures. These next three are some of the last three that pictures that we took in Ecuador. I know we still need to put many more on here from the last few weeks. This one and the next were taken at the Equator. We had been there many times before, but we wanted to take Evan to get a picture of him and us there. Baby Evan straddling two hemispheres. He's a world traveller! This picture was taken as we were getting on the plane. Goodbye Ecuador! This was taken at the airport in Miami after I had gone to Starbuck's. The first time in almost three years. I had gotten a Iced Caramel Frappucino. Sorry there's none left for you! Here's Evan at the airport...wore out. Travelling can make you tired. He actually did really well. He slept a lot and only one landing bothered him some. Thanks to Hurricane Ike, we had to go through Miami instead...because of this we got to see Miami and the beach. Too bad it was only from the air. There just wasn't enough time to go there. This one is of downtown Miami and the next one is of South Beach. Here's Evan meeting his Great-Grandpa yesterday. That was really nice. Here's a couple that show Evan hanging out here at the house.Well, I guess this is all for now. We'll keep you caught up on the last few weeks of our time in Ecuador and keep you posted on what adventures await us. Thanks for praying and please continue to do so.

Monday, September 15, 2008

changed plans

Thanks to Hurricane Ike, our plans have changed. This is kind of a long story that I'm making it short. Well, we were supposed to fly to Kansas City tomorrow via Houston. Well, ol' Mr Ike changed all that. Instead we changed flights and airlines, and are now going on Tues. the 16th via Miami- DFW- and then KC. I'm just glad they had something available to change to. For a while, it was looking like we were going to have to stay another week. It's really a miracle how everything worked out. So, we have one more full day in Ecuador...that's what we thought yesterday but we had our plans changed a bit. Hopefully, they don't change again. Just pray for us as we leave and especially as we travel. That trip will be a bit longer than the one anticipated and I'm not much of a flyer. Pray for safe travel and that everything comes together.Well, here's some recent pictures of Evan for your enjoyment. This first one is of him saying goodbye (with a little help from Christine) as I was going out to work on the agricultural project about a week and a half ago. Here's Evan with his Rangers bib. This last one is of Carmen 'feeding' him a brownie. He's a real sweet-tooth or 'golosito' as they say in Spanish...just like his dad. Well, I guess this is all for now. We still have a lot of pics to put up and an outdate to send out but will probably do that once we get back.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

packing up and saying goodbye

Sorry we haven't posted recently. You can imagine we are quite busy these days. Mostly, we are packing up and saying goodbye. These first couple of pictures show a couple of goodbyes. The first one is out at Ramon's church in Ascazubi last Sunday. They had a really special service and a going away shinding for us. It was quite nice. Here's a picture of Christine with the group. Christine is wearing traditional dress from Cayambe. This 2nd pic is of us saying goodbye to Dave and Ana, who run La Fuente. They've been great friends and it's been really nice to work with them. Here's the packing up part. Evan's helped a lot, as you can see here. Too much packing can really wear you out, as this pic shows. Here's Evan with our neighbor and really good friend, Carmen. She helped us watch Evan quite a bit when we were packing. His hat says, Ecuador- my country.Well, I guess this is all for now. We have most of the packing done but there are still some loose ends to tie up. We still have a few goodbyes but we'll be headed out this Monday/Sept 15. Please pray for us as we finish up, say goodbye and pray for safe travel. I guess this is all for now but I have many more pics to put on later...maybe after we get home. We'd also like to send a newsletter before we leave, so keep your eyes open for that.

Monday, September 01, 2008

Last trip to Santo Domingo and other pics

Here's some pictures from my last trip to Santo Domingo. I went there a couple of weeks ago for the ordination of a good friend and the main church's 40th anniversary. It was quite a good trip but quick. I ended up going with Ramon and his family. We all had a good day of fun and fellowship (other than his boys getting carsick on the way down on the curvy mountain road). The friend that got ordained was Bernardo. You might remember him, as I have mentioned him before and asked you to pray for him. Well, he's a new pastor and he's also ordained. To jog your memory, he is a barber and we worked a lot with him in the time we lived and worked in Santo Domingo (March of '07). Here are the guys praying for him, his family and his ministry. Here's Ramon, his family and his wife's sister. We were at the main park/plaza there in Sto. Domingo. Here's Ramon, me and the boys. This is everybody, along with Bernard and his wife (Doris), in front of the church that Bernard is pastoring. He's a new pastor, pastoring a new church- Galilee Baptist Church of Santo Domingo. Here's Ramon and the family, along with Evan. These last five pictures were taken when Dad and Mom were here, now about two months ago. These first two were taken at Evan's dedication service out in Ascazubi (Ramon's family's church). Nice try, mom. She wanted to put Evan in the suitcase and take him with her...nice try! Here's a video of Evan that was taken a couple of weeks ago. Sorry we haven't put any videos on in a while. Here he is with his chicken friend.As I close, I want to put a special prayer request. It is for a family in San Carlos, which is where Jose lives (in the Southern part of the valley). This is quite a hard area to work in and we've asked you to pray for San Carlos before. Well, we met a family that is interested in having a Bible study. I'll share the details of how I met this family later on. I met them in quite an amazing way but we are hoping to go over on Thursday (the 4th) and visiting them. I ask you to pray for them (Maribel and Christian).